Saturday, July 07, 2012

to make sure we 'meet our commitments'. Fancy way of saying "Let us loot your country so we can use it as we consider proper."

The related Huffington Post article includes this video, titled “What is the New World Order?” with the Chairman of the World Economic Forum USA, to explain why global governance will solve our issues:Got news for you, Sparky: if 'global governance' is the answer, then it's truly a damned stupid question. Piss off.

A white Muslim convert who once worked as a BBC security guard was arrested yesterday over an alleged plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, possibly during the OlympicsOne of the suspects spent two years working as a Metropolitan Police community support officer in East London, before leaving the force in May 2009.

andThe al-Qaida branch in the Arabian Peninsula is believed to be planning a terror attack during the Olympic Games in London, scheduled to begin at the end of the month. According to a report in today's Sunday Times, quoting intelligence services, the organization has recruited a Norwegian Muslim convert who was supposed to hijack a U.S. passenger plane and crash it on a suicide mission. It is not clear though that the attack targeted one of the Olympic venues, despite the timing.

And, not related but happening in the same region,Two British women were arrested yesterday after raids in London and Amsterdam by police probing a blackmail plot by animal rights activists.

A 50-year-old was held in Croydon, South London, while, in a simultaneous dawn swoop in Amsterdam, a second woman, aged 25, was arrested along with a 25-year-old Dutch man. They are also being quizzed over an arson attack.Further down in the piece is this very interesting thing:The Dutch National Crime Squad said Britain has maintained a surveillance operation with its assistance on radical animal rights activists in The Netherlands for some time.

These activists routinely go for 'training' in the UK - learning such things as sabotage, mail bomb making and how to target the personnel of companies involved in animal experiments - and return to their homeland as 'sleepers' waiting to be activated for a specific mission.Apparently all the "Handguns are banned so it's peaceful in Britain" people are lying to us.

While this may be the first sex slave marriage to take place in Egypt's recent history, it is certainly not the first call to revive the practice. Earlier, Egyptian Sheikh Huwaini, lamenting that the "good old days" of Islam were over, declared that, in an ideal Muslim society, "when I want a sex-slave," he should be able to go "to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her." Likewise, a Kuwaiti female politician earlier advocated for reviving the institute of sex-slavery, suggesting that Muslims should bring female captives of war—specifically Russian women from the Chechnya war—and sell them to Muslim men in the markets of Kuwait.This is the kind of crap we and muslims who want to live in the modern world are dealing with. And which most of our media don't want to say a word about.

and hold onto it" didn't seem like the best of ideas; seems I wasn't being silly or cynical, I was ahead of the curve.In 2007, Morgan Stanley paid out $4.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by its clients after Morgan Stanley charged them to buy and "store" precious metals for them, but neither bought or stored the metals....Avery Goodman points out that Morgan Stanley has once again just launched a similar scam, offering "allocated" metals, but gaming the definition so that the holdings are not really allocated.And it's not just here:When the customer finally got his gold, it was 2011 minted bars. This made no sense because he had been holding the allocated gold for years. That’s just another example that even the allocated gold in the banking system has probably been loaned out. Many of these customers will wake up one day and realize they entrusted their gold to the wrong people.”

When people in positions of power lament that they can't act like the PRC, it's a great big warning sign. If you weren't worried about these clowns already.

Harvard wants people to give them piles of money for an 'education'; how much of it is being wasted on PC crap like this?

On that 'study' that basically says "EVERYBODY is a terror suspect!":Oh. My. God. What a dog's breakfast of blatant grant-milking. What did they do with the grant money they got for this? Piss it away in Vegas and then put this mess together the night before they sent it off to DHS?

Snork...In the post-apocalyptic future, the Manolo expects the survivors to be exceedingly well-shod for the first few years, after which, we will have to make do with old Birkenstocks and burlap bags. It will be like living in the Middle Ages again, only without the benefit of people who are handy with tools.

What? They actually expected Obama to put REAL sanctions in place that might offend the PRC?

Haven't these rubes figured it out yet? The only people Obama has genuine love for is himself.

Friday, July 06, 2012

No, Nanny, the officers did NOT do everything they were supposed to do exactly by the book; THEY BROKE THE LAW. You might have heard of that 4th Amendment to the Constitution(which you seem to consider toilet paper)? NYPD can't simply ignore it because you tell them to, you effing dirtbag.

and "Screw you, you apologist clowns", I shall now begin with some of the more insane people calling themselves muslim:Timbuktu's priceless collection of ancient scientific texts is at risk of destruction by hard-line Islamists.

Ansar Dine, a Tuareg militia, occupies territory around Timbuktu, a town in northern Mali listed as a world heritage site. In recent weeks, the group has destroyed historic tombs in the town (see picture), which house the remains of Islamic Sufi saints and which Ansar Dine says are idolatrous.So, following in the footsteps of the guy who pretty much killed scientific inquiry and advance in the muslim world, they want to destroy, well, pretty much everything. Wonderful, isn't it?

A note on the hypocrisy of a lot of Obama supporters.The former President, Koh said, was the “torturer-in-chief.” In a 2002 interview with The New York Times, he referred to the war on terror as “legally undeclared” and questioned the administration’s right to kill terrorists on the battlefield. “What factual showing will demonstrate that they had warlike intentions against us and who sees that evidence before any action is taken?” he asked.

In 2009, after the election of Barack Obama, Koh was awarded the job of State Department legal adviser. Since that time, he has defended a war waged in Libya without explicit congressional authorization, drone strikes targeting suspected terrorists and the extrajudicial assassination of an American citizen who had become a leading Al Qaeda ideologist.

None of these, however, can be considered the greatest of Koh’s manifold hypocrisies. That honor stems from a 2010 speech in which he triumphantly declared that the Obama administration “unequivocally guarantee(s) humane treatment for all individuals in U.S. custody as a result of armed conflict” (emphasis original).

One wonders, then, what Koh would make of Eli Lake’s blockbuster Daily Beast story last week. Reporting from Somalia, Lake found a secret prison holding alleged terrorists captured by, or with the assistance of, the United States.He'll ignore it or excuse it, like the good little progressive dirtbag he is.

Georgia, what the hell is wrong with you?Even with things that “didn’t add up,” police and prosecutors moved forward with a case against Culpepper. The case continued even though Boyd told police and the Fulton District Attorney’s Office several times Culpepper was not the woman who attacked him. She spent 53 days in jail because these idiots apparently couldn't be bothered to make sure they were holding the right person. Or just didn't care.Insty says make these clowns personally liable for crap like this; sounds good to me.

So the people of Hong Kong don't want their kids being taught about the wonders of communist China; gee, I wonder why...

Extreme Right-Wing: groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack and is either already lost or that the threat is imminent (for some the threat is from a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group), and believe in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism. Groups may also be fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation), anti-global, suspicious of centralized federal authority, reverent of individual liberty, and believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty.

Single Issue: groups or individuals that obsessively focus on very specific or narrowly-defined causes (e.g., anti-abortion, anti-Catholic, anti-nuclear, anti-Castro). This category includes groups from all sides of the political spectrum.

Suspicious of centralized federal authority? 'Reverent of individual liberty'? being anti-communist? Those are the things that label me as a 'terrorist hot spot'?

Count me in then.Remember, this is from the same geniuses who told us we should be prepared for natural disaster or terrorist attack by storing some food and other emergency supplies, and then announced that storing food and emergency supplies was suspicious and will make you be considered a terrorist suspect.

You may have heard of the various tweets by effing idiots and celebritutes about how awful America is, etc. I wonder if the knowledge that if they did that in a lot of the countries they seem to prefer they'd be in a cell actually means anything to them?

This would indicate that a bunch of people in the PA State PoliceA: Have no business wearing a badge or being in any position of authority, andB: Have been modeling their activities after the Stasi. And should be referred to as such.

The report, which caps a three-year inquiry by the panel, concluded that between 1996 and 2008, Countrywide executives used a special VIP loan program to try to stop legislation that would have restrained the company’s business with Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored mortgage company. Countrywide had an exclusive agreement to sell billions of dollars in mortgages to Fannie Mae at a discounted rate, according to the report.

Some people are getting desperate:White House chief of staff Jack Lew on Sunday would neither confirm nor deny whether President Barack Obama himself is involved in the Operation Fast and Furious cover-up.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Lew refused to answer when asked if Fast and Furious documents now protected by Obama’s executive order include consultation with the president himself.

“There has to be the ability for a president to get confidential advice,” Lew said in response to Crowley pressing him on the reasons for asserting privilege. “There has to be an ability for Congress to use its speech and debate clause.”

Crowley followed up, pushing him on whether that means Obama was involved.

“Were there things in the documents that involved consultation with the president?” she asked Lew. “Is that why you invoked executive privilege?”

Lew balked.

“I’m not going to speak to the specific documents,” he responded, ducking the question.

I'd like to yell about this and some other things some more, but had some family stuff earlier today, after not enough sleep, and it'll have to wait till tomorrow.

that's one impressive piece. If you're not familiar with it, it's a .357 Magnum autoloader; this is like the one I shotand a couple of pics of a fancy version here(this pic from Oleg Volk's site, too), and here's the specs from the Coonan site:

Caliber

.357 Magnum

Barrel Length

5 inches

Construction

Stainless Steel

Magazine Capacity

7 rounds + 1

Weight

42.0 oz. empty .48 oz loaded

Length

8.3 inches overall

Height

5.6 inches

Width

1.3 inches

Sights

Dovetail Front & Rear, Black, Fixed

Grips

Smooth Black Walnut

Shot beautifully. Offhand at ten yards I could keep shots in a 3" group, the trigger is light and clean. Yeah, there's recoil; no way you can have .357 power without it. It was controllable and consistent, so not really any problem. This was a brand-new pistol, first time at the range. I got to put about 35 rounds through, 25 were Remington 125-grain HP, the others handloads using a Remington 158-grain softpoint bullet. Total I saw fired was about 75 rounds, and it had one empty that failed to clear the ejection port, that was in the second mag; no other firing problems. Considering the makers say it should have a several-hundred round break-in, I'd say it's off to a good start.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

An ethics complaint against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been filed by David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh with the Office of Bar Counsel, Board on Professional Responsibility of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Codrea and Vanderboegh are the two bloggers who first broke the news of the Fast and Furious scandal in December 2010.

Said Vanderboegh, Eric Holder believes that he will escape serious consequences of the congressional investigations of the Fast and Furious scandal simply by running out the clock on his tenure. We intend this ethics complaint to place him on notice that his lies and malfeasances will follow him until justice is done."

The particulars of the complaint are included in the letter reproduced below.

July 2, 2012

Office of Bar Counsel

Board on Professional Responsibility

District of Columbia Court of Appeals

515 5th Street NW

Building A, Suite 117

Washington, DC 20001

In re: Ethics complaint against member Eric H. Holder, Jr.

Dear board members,

This letter serves as notice that a complaint is being filed against one of your members for professional misconduct. A search of your website at http://www.dcbar.org/ shows Eric H. Holder, Jr., currently Attorney General of the United States, has been an active DC Bar member since he was admitted on January 23, 1980.

As per your professional standards published as Rule 8.4, “Misconduct,” at http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/ethics/legal_ethics/rules_of_professional_conduct/amended_rules/rule_eight/rule08_04.cfm, “It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

(

a) Violate or attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assist or induce another to do so, or do so through the acts of another;

(b) Commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects;

(d) Engage in conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice;

(e) State or imply an ability to influence improperly a government agency or official;

(f) Knowingly assist a judge or judicial officer in conduct that is a violation of applicable rules of judicial conduct or other law; or

(g) Seek or threaten to seek criminal charges or disciplinary charges solely to obtain an advantage in a civil matter.”

It would appear that several, if not all of these rules, have been violated as evidenced by Eric Holder having been found in contempt of Congress on June 28, 2012 “for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform” (Note House Calendar No. 140/Report 112-546 appearing at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-112hrpt546/pdf/CRPT-112hrpt546.pdf).

As per Rule 8.5, “Rule 8.5—Disciplinary Authority; Choice of Law,” at http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/ethics/legal_ethics/rules_of_professional_conduct/amended_rules/rule_eight/rule08_05.cfm, which states in part “A lawyer admitted to practice in this jurisdiction is subject to the disciplinary authority of this jurisdiction, regardless of where the lawyer’s conduct occurs,” and due to the seriousness of this misconduct, we, as citizens of the Republic, with an interest in ensuring full accountability for the legal conduct of government officials, feel compelled to issue a formal complaint in accordance with your established filing protocol at http://www.dcbar.org/for_the_public/working_with_lawyers/when_problems_arise/filing.cfm

Because of the serious political ramifications involved, and because some on the Board may be sympathetic to AG Holder’s positions and hostile to those of the House contempt charges, and in order to ensure that this complaint receives proper attention and is not ignored through deliberate indifference, we are making a copy of this letter publicly available via our respective websites, SipseyStreetIrregulars.blogspot.com and DavidCodrea.com.

Further, it appears your own rules may remove any discretion and require an investigation. As per Rule XI, “Disciplinary Proceedings,” Section 10, “Disciplinary Proceedings Based Upon Conviction of Crime,” at http://www.dcbar.org/inside_the_bar/structure/bar_rules/rule11.cfm:

“(a) Notification. If an attorney is found guilty of a crime or pleads guilty or nolo contendere to a criminal charge in a District of Columbia court, the clerk of that court shall, within ten days from the date of such finding or plea, transmit to this Court and to Bar Counsel a certified copy of the court record or docket entry of the finding or plea. Bar Counsel shall forward the certified copy to the Board. Upon learning that the certified copy has not been timely transmitted by the clerk of the court in which the finding or plea was made, or that an attorney has been found guilty of a crime or has pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to a criminal charge in a court outside the District of Columbia or in any federal court, Bar Counsel shall promptly obtain a certified copy of the court record or docket entry of the finding or plea and transmit it to this Court and to the Board. The attorney shall also file with this Court and the Board, within ten days from the date of such finding or plea, a certified copy of the court record or docket entry of the finding or plea.”

“(b) Serious crimes. The term ‘serious crime’ shall include (1) any felony, and (2) any other crime a necessary element of which, as determined by the statutory or common law definition of such crime, involves improper conduct as an attorney, interference with the administration of justice, false swearing, misrepresentation, fraud, willful failure to file income tax returns, deceit, bribery, extortion, misappropriation, theft, or an attempt or a conspiracy or solicitation of another to commit a ‘serious crime.’"

While District of Columbia courts have not (yet) been involved, there is no question that the Congress has found the Attorney General guilty of contempt under conditions that rise to your definition of “serious crime.” It would also appear that Attorney General Holder is required to report the contempt finding to you within the ten day requirement, and that the Bar “shall” investigate this matter.

Press inquiries should be routed via email to David Codrea at dcodrea@hotmail.com or Mike Vanderboegh at GeorgeMason1776@aol.com.

Second, they'd tried to get a statement from Jay Dobyns or his attorney on the 'ATF/DoJ screwing with whistleblowers' letter; he got this:

Folks,

This morning I posted the letter by Congressman Darrell Issa to Eric Holder regarding further ATF victimization of whistleblowers, including Jay Dobyns. (Here is David's take.) At the time, I didn't yet have a response from Jay's lawyer, James Reed. Here it is:

Hi Mike:

It is nice to meet you, through this email. In response to your voicemail to me today, requesting a comment for an article you are writing for Sypsey Street Irregulars, let me offer the following.

Presently, my law firm is in discussions with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regarding a recent claim by my client, ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns, of retaliation against Agent Dobyns by ATF, i.e., the matter to which House Chairman Darrell Issa, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, refers in his letter dated June 1, 2012, a copy of which you informed me in your voicemail today that you had already received and read.

In that letter, we appreciate that Representative Issa recognizes Agent Dobyns as an important resource during the House committee investigation regarding ATF’s Fast and Furious operation. Further, we thank Representative Issa for his role in engendering ATF agent confidence to report and speak publicly about allegations of fraud, waste and abuse within ATF, without fear of retaliation from ATF supervisors and management.

As demonstrated by publicly-available information, Agent Dobyns is not the only agent within ATF to allege that he qualifies as a federal whistleblower or to have made a claim that retaliation against him by ATF has occurred, despite federally-protected whistleblower status. In particular, Representative Issa’s letter makes clear, we believe correctly, that (1) ATF agents have a right and, under certain circumstances, even a responsibility to furnish information to Congress, (2) any limitations by ATF on such rights of communication with the Congress are impermissible, and (3) in certain instances, where prohibitions of or interference with an ATF agent’s exercise of such rights of communication with the Congress have the effect of obstructing or impeding a Congressional inquiry, such interference can rise to the level of a crime.

At the present time, I prefer not to comment further on the matters under discussion with ATF regarding Agent Dobyns, matters which we consider to be serious in nature. Please know that we appreciate the attention that Sypsey Street Irregulars continues to generate regarding the House Committee’s right to properly and thoroughly investigate Operation Fast and Furious, as part of the general public’s call for transparent operation of federal agencies whenever possible and for full respect for federal whistleblower protections. The role of Sipsey Street Irregulars in pushing for full disclosure of ATF documents relevant to Operation Fast and Furious, where such disclosure does not, when viewed fairly and objectively, compromise national security or ongoing criminal investigations, demonstrates the value of a free press and of free speech.

Regards,

Jim Reed

Attorney for ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns

If you're not familiar with Dobyns and the backstory to this, Wiki has some information. Very short version: he managed something no other LE officer ever had, wound up with his family and he being targeted for death, and was screwed over by ATF.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Hey, NYPD: if it upsets you that they shoot video of you doing this, that's just too damn bad; maybe you should stop doing it.

Wonderful: the Navy's paying $26/gallon for 'green' fuel; but we're assured that 'that price will come down'. Mabus, unless you can prove it'll wind up the same or less than standard fuel, then you're screwing the Navy and us. And we know it.

In Crestview, Florida, Police Street Crimes Unit investigator Tim White is out of a job for swiping grass from an evidence locker and planting it at a residence to beef up the grounds for a search warrant application. Even more interesting, he says he did so on orders from a supervisor. And that's just the beginning of the interesting.

Monday, July 02, 2012

but it shouldn't surprise me; their wanting to extend it doesn't.The French government is considering extending the television licence fee to include computer screen owners to boost revenues for public-sector broadcasting operations, the culture minister said on Saturday.

Apparently a cable news talking head named Cooper has some people all aflutter with the announcement that he's homosexual; my question is "Why does anybody care?"

What? Rangel might not have won after all? Seeing this corrupt bastard lose would bring a serious uplift to mood.

Lots of information on enviroweenie actions, including this in Alaska:Now, these groups have come together to demand the Environmental Protection Agency expand its reach under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to deny permits for Pebble before any permit has been applied for. This unprecedented power grab from the EPA would eliminate local and state authorities from having any say in the permitting process and gut the process established under the National Environmental Policy Act — passed by the environmentalists themselves. It would chill future investments not just in mining projects but also in the estimated $200 billion yearly investments in projects relying on 404(c) permits.We're back to either tar and feathers, or lamppost-rope-politician/bureaucrat...

someone would have burned down Al Gore’s mansion by now. And probably Tom Friedman’s, too.Oh no, they only burn down the businesses and such of people who don't worship at their altar; the hypocrites who do are safe. And don't have to use the systems they want the serfs to be forced into.

"Oh, people are using air conditioners! And the commoners in other countries want them, and it's bad for Gaia! Should we ration them, or get rid of them entirely?"I will give you one guess as to the words I'd say to every effing nanny out there. And I want them to stand in front of some worker in, say, India(their current "The peasants are revolting!" target) who just got a window unit and can actually sleep comfortably at night and tell him "We can't allow you to have this." I'd imagine the response would be either downright inventive, or very blunt.

House Speaker John Boehner said the GOP would likely take the “Fast and Furious” case to federal court in the next several weeks, on the heels of the House voting to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.Well, since the DoJ is taking marching orders from Holder & Obama and won't do squat, it's the only way anything will be done. And Romney is less likely to get in the way in the current circumstances.

Obamacare is a disaster. Imagine DMV supervisors, TSA employees, someone like an Eric Holder running the show, and taking a number at the emergency room, and you have the formula of dealing with your rendezvous with a tumor or heart attack.... Remember again: this was a plan that was sold as a mandate, not a tax; then argued by the administration before the Supreme Court as a tax; then found constitutional on the basis that it was a tax; and now defended on the basis that it is suddenly once again not a tax. Adolescents, not the president of the United States, make it up as they go along — mandate, tax, penalty, fee, etc.

Found over at Uncle's, about those 'The dog alerted so I can search' searches & seizures,A group of Nevada Highway Patrol troopers and a retired police sergeant have filed a racketeering complaint against the NHP and Las Vegas Metro Police in U.S. District Court....The complaint alleges that the drug-sniffing dogs used by troopers in the program were intentionally being trained to operate as so-called trick ponies, or dogs that provide officers false alerts for the presence of drugs.

The dogs were being trained to alert their handlers by cues, instead of by picking up a drug's scent by sniffing, the complaint said. When a dog gives a false alert, this resulted in illegal searches and seizures, including money and property, the complaint said.Oh, this puts a weasel in the henhouse; can you imagine the lawsuits being looked at right now? And how many cases in the future this is going to be brought up in nationwide?

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Question Posed by Publisher Causes Stir In American COPOne of the comments from an officer includedThis is when the tired old Katrina nugget gets trotted out, but everyone conveniently forgets that the system worked: in short order a court recognized the unConstitutionality of the government’s action, and put a stop to it. Some will say that that is small comfort to the relative view who had their weapons confiscated, but it’s an imperfect system, and always will be as long as humans are in charge.Etc.Yeah, it's not like the people who were physically attacked and robbed of their arms(Remember a older lady abused by a couple of CHP assholes masquerading as cops?) actually NEEDED them for protection. And if they did, well, SOME of them got them back... After, what, more than a year? With NO throwing up roadblocks and delays on and on, and many of the arms that were returned ruined. Yeah, that's a great-working system, I'll bet those who played a part in it were real proud. And it's why that nugget keeps being brought up, jackass.

My my, back in the Clinton/Reno period:The first official identified by name in the Fast and Furious gunwalking investigation has been tied to a similar Minnestoa operation in 1996 where “more than 150 guns flow[ed] into the Twin Cities underworld,” Kevin Diaz of the Star Tribune reported yesterday. Identifying supervisor George Gillett, Jr., who is now a cooperating witness in House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigations, Diaz reveals “Gillett was a street agent tracking gun store sales to ‘straw buyers’ working for suspected gang members. Some of those guns turned up in drug busts and crime scenes, including one that was found at the scene of a deadly shootout in north Minneapolis.”

Gillette was first identified as a central figure in the Fast and Furious investigation by a post on CleanUpATF, a whistleblower website aimed at exposing agency corruption, which was first reported by Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars in late December, 2010....It does lead to some interesting questions, particularly for those demanding to expand investigations to include the Bush-era “Operation Wide Receiver” program and his then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The Twin Cities operation took place under Janet Reno’s watch under President Bill Clinton.

That in turn makes speculation on Hillary Clinton and the State Department’s awareness of and involvement in Fast and Furious more understandable, especially recalling that former National Security Council official and current State employee Kevin O’Reilly has been placed out of Oversight Committee reach by assignment to Iraq and White House Counsel refuses to allow him to cooperate. It also leaves unanswered questions about why International Traffic in Arms Regulation implications have not been explored for ATF/Department of Justice complicity in apparent willful violations of ITAR provisions, which would have presumably occurred unless State had provided them with an exemption.

over at Captain's Journal; several links in the post to other posts. I'm going to borrow a few bits:That night it would have been perfectly reasonable to send over a couple of uniformed officers (common uniforms, shirts and ties), knock on the door, and then communicate their concerns: “Sir, we received a phone call concerning a potential problem or disturbance in this area, and we would like to sit and chat with you for a few minutes. May we come in, or perhaps you would like to come down to the precinct to chat with us?”

But with the increasing militarization of police activities in America, this is rarely good enough any more. But the police aren’t the military, and even if they were, such tactics are inherently dangerous. PoorEurie Stamps perished in a mistaken SWAT raid due to an officer, who had no trigger discipline, stumbling with a round chambered in his rifle and shooting Mr. Stamps (due to sympathetic muscle reflexes) who was prone on the floor. Mr. Jose Guerena was shot to death in his home in a SWAT raid that looked like it was conducted by the keystone cops. Such tactics are also dangerous for the police officers conducting the raids....Responsible firearms owners know this. That’s why most firearms owners have worked so hard, and are so hard on each other, concerning proper trigger discipline. The investigator in this so-called “independent” investigation knows this too. That he didn’t bring it up is informative. This officer is guilty of malfeasance by entering a home such as this with his finger on the trigger. Moreover, take particular note of the circumstances. Not only had this poor man surrendered, he was on the floor. The officer in question was attempting to secure him, and this … with his finger on the trigger of a rifle with a round chambered(Note: AND THE SAFETY OFF). The officer lost his balance, and lo and behold, he discharged his weapon. Not only is this officer inept, his trainer(s) and supervision is inept, and perhaps even dishonest, to have accepted such a slanted “independent” assessment of the incident, and to allow this SWAT team out with weapons to terrorize citizens with their ineptitude....Ms. Griego asks, “How hard can it be for authorities to track this woman down?” The answer, of course, is that it isn’t hard to track people down. It requires basic police work, and apprehension can be done safely and without ugly incidents such as this one. According to my friend, Captain Dickson Skipper of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, most apprehensions can be done physically, or with the really belligerent ones, using pepper spray. But military tactics have replaced basic police work in America, with the behavior of tacti-cool “operators” justified by judges looking the other way, as if all of this is necessary to maintain order and peace.And finallyHaving spent time in Fallujah clearing rooms with the U.S. Marines, my own son’s perspective is more peaceful than what he had to perpetrate on that city: “So, you want to be an operator? Good. Sign up, take the training, fly across the pond, and do it for real. If you are a police officer in the U.S., you should first and foremost see yourself as a peace officer.” They should; but if you're just a peace officer you don't get to put on ninja suits and kick doors and throw grenades and kill people by incompetence and get away with it and, most of all, you don't get to invite the local tv people to shoot video of you raiding the WRONG DAMNED HOUSE.

Consider this:So the cops did some more investigation and decided that the threats had come from a house on the same street. This time, apparently recognizing they had gone a little nuts on the first raid, the police department didn’t send a SWAT team at all. Despite believing that they now had the right location and that a threat-making bomber lurked within, they just sent officers up to the door.Gee, wouldn't it have been nice if they'd done this at the first house instead of breaking doors and throwing grenades in and sticking guns in peoples' faces?

channeling the 12th imam or somethingSwimmer Stephanie Rice, who swims for a living while wearing a swimsuit in a swimming pool, is catching flak in her native Australia for tweeting a picture of herself in a swimsuit. The nerve of some people.

The three-time gold medalist took the shot of herself wearing a birthday gift from designer Ellie Gonsalves and posted it on Twitter. It made figurative waves one month before she defends her Olympic titles in both individual medleys.So, first they blow a circuit because a couple of guys take a picture with firearms, now this?

knew anything about it...Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and who then went on to become Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s chief of staff, and a contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.But Holder & Napolitano & Co. knew NOTHINK!about it!

Plus this:In a Friday letter to the DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Grassley and Issa said they’re now concerned retaliation is much more likely following Thursday’s votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal and civil contempt of Congress.

“We just learned that ATF senior management placed two of the main whistleblowers who have testified before Congress about Fast and Furious under the supervision of someone who vowed to retaliate against them,” they wrote before describing how senior political figures have made dangerous threats before.

Grassley and Issa said that in early 2011, right around the time Grassley first made public the whistleblowers’ allegations about Fast and Furious, Scot Thomasson – then the chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division – said, according to an eyewitness account: “We need to get whatever dirt we can on these guys [the whistleblowers] and take them down.”

Thomasson also allegedly said that: “All these whistleblowers have axes to grind. ATF needs to f—k these guys.”Y'know, I do believe that such retaliation is a federal crime, is it not?

More still:The two lead Fast and Furious investigators also released new, never-before-public documents that show officials in ATF’s Washington headquarters were trying to cover up Fast and Furious two weeks before Grassley ever even asked about it.

Grassley didn’t confront the Justice Department or ATF with those questions until Jan. 27, 2011, but ATF headquarters had prepped internal talking points as early as Jan. 12, 2011.

In that Jan. 12, 2011, memo, ATF officials laid out expected questions about gunwalking in Fast and Furious and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder with Fast and Furious weapons – and canned answers ATF officials were supposed to give to press or anyone else asking about it.

More still, the U of Baltimore School of Law better consider just what kind of slimeball they're getting to run the place:Grassley and Issa released other internal documents, including emails, with their Friday letter to Horowitz. The documents show that soon-to-be-former Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich – who is resigning to lead the University of Baltimore School of Law – may have been in on this cover-up plan.

Weich was the author of a false Feb. 4, 2011 letter to Grassley, in which he denied – on behalf of Holder – gunwalking ever took place. Holder’s DOJ withdrew that letter 10 months later, in December 2011.

Weich and now former acting ATF director Ken Melson – who was promoted into DOJ leadership after he secretly deposed Congress without DOJ or ATF counsel – were cc-ed on emails from late January 2011.

Those emails discuss how the DOJ and ATF planned to respond to Grassley’s request for information.

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.